VILE: Somali girl smuggled into United Kingdom for organ harvesting

There
has been a noticeable uptick of cases of human trafficking in the
United Kingdom. In perhaps the most horrific recent case, law
enforcement learned that a Somali girl had been brought to England for
the express purpose of harvesting her organs for transplant. Child
protection charities warn that this case was unlikely to be an isolated
incident. It was likely the result of a well-coordinated group of
smuggling children into the country for harvesting.

In perhaps the most horrific recent case, law enforcement learned that a Somali girl had been brought to England for the express purpose of harvesting her organs for transplant.

Highlights

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Criminal gangs have been attempting to exploit the demand for organ transplants in Britain.

"Traffickers are exploiting the demand for organs and the vulnerability of children. It's unlikely that a trafficker is going to take this risk and bring just one child into the UK. It is likely there was a group," Bharti Patel, the chief executive of EPACT U.K., the child protection charity, said.

As many as 7,000 kidneys are illegally obtained by traffickers each year around the world, according to the World Health Organization. Kidneys are the most sought after organs because one can be removed from a patient without any ill effects.

The process involves a number of people, which includes a recruiter who identifies the victim, the person who arranges their transport, the medical professionals who perform the operation and the salesman who trades the organ.

There has been a noticeable rise in the number of adults trafficked to the U.K., with the number of women rising by 12 percent to 786 and the number of men by almost a third to 400.

Details of the scale of human trafficking in Britain arrives at a time when prosecutors vow to give these modern day slave drivers a maximum sentence.

Offenders who already have a conviction for a serious sexual or violent offence will receive an automatic life sentence, under new proposals. The current maximum custodial sentence for trafficking is 14 years.

"Modern slavery is an appalling evil in our midst," James Brokenshire, crime and security minister, said. "All this is a good start, but we need everyone to play a part - government, law enforcement, business, charities - if we are to consign slavery to the history books where it belongs."

The Bill, which will be published this year in draft form for pre-legislative scrutiny, will pull together into a single act the offenses used to prosecute slave drivers.

It will also introduce Trafficking Prevention Orders to restrict the activity and movement of convicted traffickers and stop them from committing further offenses.